The Mets’ win prevented a Nationals sweep of the four-game series, and it also ended a run of futility at home against their main divisional rivals — Washington won the first six games at Citi Field this season. But the net effect was that the weekend ended with the Mets two games further behind the Nationals than they were when it started.

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“There’s only so many gut punches you can take before you’re down on your knees,” Manager Terry Collins said. “You can only take so many blows before you start to feel sorry for yourself. But if you do that, you’re not going to have much of a chance. We’ll bounce back and we’ll start playing good.”

Collins continues to believe that the Mets can come back in the second half of the season.

“If you continue to win games, you can get back in the race,” he said. “Today was a huge win for us, but we got to play again tomorrow against another good team.”

That team is the Los Angeles Dodgers, winners of nine of their past 10. After having faced pitchers Gio Gonzalez, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg in their first three games against the Nationals, the Mets now must face…